A Psalm of Fearless Trust in God.

A Psalm of David.

Simeon Is Held Hostage

²⁹ When they came to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan, they told him everything that had happened to them, saying, ³⁰ “The man, the lord of the land, ^(A)spoke harshly with us, and took us for spies of the country. ³¹ But we said to him, ‘We are ^(B)honest men; we are not spies. ³² We are twelve brothers, sons of our father; one is no longer alive, and the youngest is with our father today in the land of Canaan.’ ³³ But the man, the lord of the land, said to us, ‘^(C)By this I will know that you are honest men: leave one of your brothers with me and take grain for the famine of your households, and go. ³⁴ But bring your youngest brother to me so that I may know that you are not spies, but ^[a]honest men. I will give your brother to you, and you may ^(D)trade in the land.’”

³⁵ Now it came about, as they were emptying their sacks, that behold, ^(E)every man’s bag of money was in his sack; and when they and their father saw their bags of money, they were afraid. ³⁶ And their father Jacob said to them, “You have ^(F)deprived me of my sons: Joseph is gone, and Simeon is gone, and now you would take Benjamin; all these things are against me.” ³⁷ Then Reuben spoke to his father, saying, “You may put my two sons to death if I do not bring him back to you; put him in my ^[b]care, and I will return him to you.” ³⁸ But ^[c]Jacob said, “My son shall not go down with you; for his ^(G)brother is dead, and he alone is left. ^(H)If harm should happen to him on the journey ^[d]you are taking, then you will ^(I)bring my gray hair down to Sheol in sorrow.”

The Body Is the Lord’s

^12 (A)All things are permitted for me, but not all things are of benefit. All things are permitted for me, but I will not be mastered by anything. ^13 (B)Food is for the stomach and the stomach is for food, however God will ^(C)do away with both ^[a]of them. But the body is not for sexual immorality, but ^(D)for the Lord, and ^(E)the Lord is for the body. ¹⁴ Now God has not only ^(F)raised the Lord, but ^(G)will also raise us up through His power. ^15 (H)Do you not know that ^(I)your bodies are parts of Christ? Shall I then take away the parts of Christ and make them parts of a prostitute? ^[b](J)Far from it! ¹⁶ Or ^(K)do you not know that the one who joins himself to a prostitute is one body with her? For He says, “^(L)The two shall become one flesh.” ¹⁷ But the one who joins himself to the Lord is ^(M)one spirit with Him. ^18 (N)Flee sexual immorality. Every other sin that a person commits is outside the body, but the ^[c]sexually immoral person sins against his own body. ¹⁹ Or ^(O)do you not know that ^(P)your body is a ^[d]temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from ^[e]God, and that ^(Q)you are not your own? ²⁰ For ^(R)you have been bought for a price: therefore glorify God in ^(S)your body.

²¹ And He was saying to them, “^(A)A lamp is not brought to be put under a ^[a]basket, or under a bed, is it? Is it not brought to be put on the lampstand? ^22 (B)For nothing is hidden, except to be revealed; nor has anything been secret, but that it would come to light. ^23 (C)If anyone has ears to hear, ^[b]let him hear.” ²⁴ And He was saying to them, “Take care what you listen to. ^[c](D)By your standard of measure it will be measured to you; and more will be given you besides. ^25 (E)For whoever has, to him more will be given; and whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.”

Parable of the Seed

²⁶ And He was saying, “The kingdom of God is like a man who casts seed upon the soil; ²⁷ and he goes to bed at night and gets up daily, and the seed sprouts and grows—how, he himself does not know. ²⁸ The soil produces crops by itself; first the stalk, then the head, then the mature grain in the head. ²⁹ Now when the crop permits, he immediately ^[d](F)puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

Parable of the Mustard Seed

^30 (G)And He was saying, “How shall we ^[e](H)picture the kingdom of God, or by what parable shall we present it? ³¹ It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the soil, though it is the smallest of all the seeds that are upon the soil, ³² yet when it is sown, it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants, and forms large branches, with the result that ^(I)the birds of the sky can nest under its shade.”

³³ And with many such parables He was speaking the word to them, so far as they were able to ^[f]understand it; ³⁴ and He did not speak to them ^(J)without a parable; but He was ^(K)explaining everything privately to His own disciples.